Democracy for America Executive Director Charles Chamberlain responded this evening to the news that Donald Trump has effectively fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and temporarily replaced him with Matt Whitaker, an administration official who has openly discussed dismantling the Special Prosecutor's Trump-Russia investigation.

"The forced resignation of Attorney Jeff Sessions and the appointment of Matt Whitaker as his temporary replacement is a transparent attempt by Donald Trump to decapitate the Trump-Russia investigation and escape justice.

"Matt Whitaker, who has openly discussed defunding and defanging an investigation critical to our democracy, has no business overseeing a probe critical to ensuring that anyone involved in the Trump campaign and administration, who worked with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, is held accountable.

"Unless Whitaker quickly makes it clear that he will recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, he is triggering a constitutional crisis that demands an immediate congressional response." - Charles Chamberlain, Executive Director of Democracy for America

"He’s a blank slate that’s ridden up to this primary on the coattails of a popular ex-president, so it’s very easy to project a whole host of ideas about what that means for 2020 and beyond,” said Neil Sroka, communications director of Democracy for America, a progressive activist group. “Once he actually starts having a plan and voters see how it differs from the others in the race, that’s not going to wear very well.”